Fill My Lungs | J. Todd ✔

[27] Long Due Revelation

Valerie had stayed the night although it was quite obvious she would as Jason wouldn't let her go otherwise. By the time he woke up, she had already taken a shower and was brushing out her wet hair to dry them off.

"Good morning," she smiled, seeing that he had woken up.

It was the first time that she woke up before him and Jason did not notice. He had been so exhausted that he didn't realize when she left the bed or else even the slightest of movements would alert him.

"Morning," he replied, sitting up and noticing the time, "why didn't you wake me up earlier?"

"You seemed tired so I thought I should let you rest for a little longer," she replied, putting down the brush as she came to sit beside him on the bed, "are you feeling better now?"

"Much better," a smile played upon his lips as his arms wrapped around her pulling her close to him.

She laughed lightly as he placed soft butterfly kisses over her neck and shoulder, making her feel so loved up and cherished that it felt almost like a dream. By the time he let go of her, she cupped his face in between her palms, gazing lovingly into those flecked blue eyes as she mumbled, "you are such a romantic, Jason."

"Don't you love it when I am though?"

She caressed his cheeks gently as she replied, "of course I do. But if you don't get up right now, I will end up making breakfast for both of us and it won't be as good as yours."

Jason got up at that remark, kissing her cheek lightly before going to the bathroom to freshen up. Her floral scent hung about the place and it tended to calm him even more as he had the constant reminder that she was with him.

Love could be so beautiful, he thought as the warm water ran down his back, soothing his frayed nerves. The comfort it gave to know that there was someone who loved him just as much as he did, that there was someone who wasn't going to leave him on his own and there was someone who could take all his problems away.

But as the feeling was beautiful, it also brought with it the fear of being snatched away.

When something becomes precious, it automatically renders a fear of losing it. It was an unspoken rule of life; the dearer something is, the harder it is to lose.

Losing love, on the other hand, was an even more terrifying aspect of life.

No one knew better than Jason what loss felt like. And Valerie had become that one special person who he couldn't bear to lose.

Yet there were so many factors around them that could make him lose her and that worried him most.

The biggest of those factors was the truth about his life as the Red Hood, something he had been concealing from her ever since they got close.

She no longer asked about his scars or the times he got badly injured but he knew she was concerned, he could see it in her eyes. And she got more worried since he gave her excuses for his injuries and not the truth.

Someday sooner or later she would find out the truth and get hurt by thinking that he perhaps didn't trust her enough to tell her himself. And initially, he wanted to delay that day for as long as possible. 

But in trying to keep things secret from her, he was realizing that it would end up distancing them and he wouldn't want that to happen either.

He had been thinking about that for quite a long time by then. He had discussed it with Richard too and came to the conclusion that keeping such a huge secret from Valerie was only going to end up tearing them apart. And so he decided to tell her the truth although he did not know how and when he was going to do that.